‘She Could Fly #2:’ Advance Comic Book Review

She Could Fly is hypnotic, emotionally eloquent, and completely jarring. It lulls you and shakes you. Christopher Cantwell chooses his words specifically, Martin Morazzo catches a rhythm in the paneling and an emotion in the artwork that Miroslav Mrva heightens in the coloring, and Clem Robbins . . . lettering doesn’t get a lot of press, but the placement and texture of the words create that staccato rhythm, that poetic feeling, that anxiety, that calm, that internal battle. In my review of issue one, I stated that She Could Fly taps into a feeling, and in issue two that feeling becomes more profound. You are living in someone else’s psychosis, specifically Luna’s psychosis. And what makes it so profound is that this creative team has tapped into an anxiety that could very well be universal, because it’s grounded in a lack of self-worth.

Luna is a high school student who is obsessed with a woman who can fly. This woman was seen above the city of Chicago, bolting here and there. This gave Luna hope. If someone else could fly, maybe so could she. Then, something bad happened, and the chaos, darkness, and anxiety that was just under the surface of Luna’s already fragile skin has begun to show itself. Now, she’s goes looking for answers: Who was this woman that could fly? Unfortunately, she’s not the only one seeking answers.

Cantwell uses this second issue to expand the world around Luna. The CIA, EDI, and a shutdown government agency all circle around the mystery behind the flying woman. One character in particular is Bill; he may or may not have had something to do with the flying woman - how much, I don’t know. Cantwell creates a portrait of a man who is one step away from being caught. He’s a bit surly, emotionally closed off, and on edge. He’s paying Verna, who presumably is an escort, to pretend to be with him. If the CIA is looking for someone flying solo, it makes sense to have someone else around. Bill doesn’t simply move the story forward, he adds a new emotional texture to the story, a sense of urgency and paranoia. With all of these people also looking for information on the flying woman, they are bound to start closing in on Luna, as well.

There is something important about this book. I don’t use that word lightly. This creative team is up to something. It’s never a small feat to create a comic book, but you can tell when that extra something has been injected. There are a lot of comic books out there that you should read. Right now, you should probably make this one a priority.